Owing in large part to the improved play of their offense down the stretch, the Packers advanced to the playoffs for the fourth time in five years. Green Bay’s run to the postseason despite being the youngest team in the NFL was sparked by the performance of quarterback Jordan Love, who has shown significant signs of improvement during his first year as a starter. 
Both general manager Brian Gutekunst and president Mark Murphy have publicly offered encouragement for the former first-rounder while maintaining that a full campaign would be needed for the team to truly evaluate his status as a passer worth building around. Love – and the Packers’ offense as a whole – endured growing pains early in the year, and turnovers became an issue for him. However, he compiled a highly impressive 18:1 touchdown-to interception ratio over the final eight games of the season.
That success has already earned the 25-year-old considerable bonuses given the incentives in his contract. That pact – a one-year, $22.5MM extension signed in May which took the place of his fifth-year option – included $13.5MM guaranteed. The latter figure represents a bargain given the current market for high-end starting QBs, but Love has cashed in on numerous escalators. As detailed by ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, the Utah State alum earned a number of bonuses for performance as well as leading the Packers to the postseason. He could see another $500K with a win over the Cowboys today.
Given his impressive showing late in the year, Love (who has boosted his 2023 earnings by $4.5MM so far) has likely done enough to land a more permanent stay in Green Bay. Indeed, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports he and the Packers will speak about an extension this spring (video link). Love is due $6MM next year, but a multi-year pact ensuring he remains with the franchise for the foreseeable future would of course check in at a much larger price tag. Contracts cannot be extended twice within a 12-month span, however, so no new agreement can be finalized until at least May 4.
The Demovsky piece details the unique nature of this situation, with Love having essentially redshirted his first three seasons in the NFL. The Aaron Rodgers successor is thus a challenging case with respect to working out an appropriate long-term contract. Three sources Demovsky cites project a range in AAV from $30MM on the low end to upwards of $50MM on the high end. It would come as little surprise if a contract fell somewhere in between those extremes, but questions will obviously linger about a lack of sample size.
Young passers like the quartet who each eclipsed the $50MM-per-year mark on their respective deals this offseason (Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow) each had more time as a starter than Love has so far. The latter has nevertheless likely done enough to price himself above other, less heralded starters, and he has proven to have chemistry with the Packers’ group of highly inexperienced pass catchers; keeping that nucleus intact for years to come would represent a logical priority for the front office.
Regardless of how the postseason shapes out for Green Bay, the status of Love’s long-term financial future will be a major storyline during the offseason. With a lengthy period in place between the end of the season and the point at which a new contract can be signed, both team and player will have a long runway to negotiate terms on what could be a sizeable raise.
What could go wrong?
The problem is if the packers don’t pay him 50mm/yr some other franchise will
5 year in the 30-35 aav sure. No way I’d pay 40 to 50
Then you lose him
I think a 3yr 100m extension is a good offer. Security for Love and not handcuffed if he isn’t the guy in a year or 2.
Every QB can thank Daniel Jones for setting the floor price at $40m/s. Jordan Love is probably due $170-$180m over 4 seasons ($42.5-$45m aav)
There will always be a upward progression in market values for every position. If Jones hadn’t set the floor price for QBs then someone else would have. Owners decided on the current passer-centric game model even though it handicaps a GMs ability to address other needs. It’s not a sustainable model but there likely won’t be a change until fans get tired of seeing their season crash when the starter (think Rodgers) is lost for the year.
Funny how teams can’t figure out how to let these young guys to fully learn system by sitting and learn for a couple years. Green Bay has done it for years. They let them mature and grow mentally and physically.
Too many teams have owners and execs who are just dumb. Look at the jets, how many QB’s have they drafted in 1st round last 30 years that turned into busts instead they go after the packers scraps and get sloppy seconds
Continually drafting QB prospects when there is no support in place for them frequently fails. The Jets aren’t the only team that took forever to understand that. You can only rely on veteran castoffs for so long though.
Right. Love has raised both his ceiling and his floor by sitting and learning.
Most other franchises don’t have the luxury of a HOF QB for their draftees to learn behind. GMs and Coaches have a shelf life to win and can’t wait for a kid to sit 2 years.
You may not have a HOF QB to act as a mentor but there are other ways to provide support for a college prospect so he can make the transition. Start by having a good OL and a defense that doesn’t require the rookie to overcome 20 point deficits all the time.
You should apply for the Carolina GM position! You’re exactly right.
With how much the QBs get paid, it is now terrible to have a guy sit majority of their contract. Love has 1 year of production and likely going to get the $40million because they have to.
Draft rookie QB and play them now so you can build when they are on that smaller contract.
The smart way of doing it is when a team drafts a QB in 1st round then LET HIM SIT for 1-3 years let him learn an offense without rushing him into the fire. It’s paid off in spades for the packers from Rodgers to Love. It worked for the chargers back in the day with Rivers who sat 2 full seasons and the chiefs with mahomes who sat all season his rookie year except the final game. When the jets drafted Sanchez then Darnald and recently Wilson all in the top 10 last 15 years and they wonder why they can’t get right. Brain surgery takes time let’s go after 39 year old QB’s instead smh
One year is enough to let them sit. Their situation was unique because Rodgers was still there, but the Packers were ready to move on two years ago. That was kind of the source of the rift. Then, Rodgers had an MVP season and they wouldn’t trade him after that, which was dumb since his value was sky high and both the Rams and 49ers would have bid the price up.
No it’s not. Follow what they’re doing….it may work.
Dan Jones had 1 year of average production w/ 3 years of poor production and got paid.
If he’s as down to earth as he seems and teammates say he is, he’ll settle for 5 years and 30 per and help this young team to keep all its pieces together.
Yeah, I am sure that is what his agent is telling him as well.
Would you give up $15m a season? I wouldn’t. He’s the QB not the GM.
14 years/$3.2 billion, all deferred til 2067!
That was actually the Dodgers’ offer to Love. They wanted to see if he could pitch.
They dominated
Oh, that low end is out after what he did today dismantling the Cowboys at home where they’re supposedly good. They’re going to be paying $50 mil a year. Just a matter of how they structure it.
I love that the Packers’ much maligned decision to move on from their delusionally narcissistic drama queen QB has worked out perfectly for them and terribly for him and the team that took him.
I’ve never liked the packers. I still don’t….but my favorite part of them winning this playoff game is that Aaron Rodgers is on the jets, and they’re better off without him.
Nyg this is the correct response!
Lol
After that performance Love is the GUY for the future. Pay him what he is worth. 4 year $176 million. $94 million in guarantees. The youngest team in football has money to spend on Love.
I haven’t studied their cap situation that closely, and I’m certainly not an expert at capnomics, but something tells me your idea that they have all this money (because they’re a young team..or not) is slightly off.
They’ve been kicking the can down the road on a handful of contracts for a few years now, plus they have the Bahktiari situation to figure out. Dropping him, or any of some others, only creates dead money they can’t use anyway. And it’s not as if they don’t have others on the verge of extensions, or holes to fill with free agents.
The Packers do not have a huge amount of cap space but they can afford to pay Love. The number I threw out is not an unreasonable amount to ask for.
You are right that a young team doesn’t directly mean that a team has more money to spend. I wasn’t trying to say that the Packers have more money then other teams because of their age, but I can see why you took it that way. I was just adding that tidbit because I keep hearing that ‘fact’ thrown out there in the media.
Daniel Jones ruined the market. Anyone half decent can point to Jones getting 40 million and rightly point out they deserve more.
And Love is better than half decent, he’s good. He’s better than Kyler and Russ too, so if he got the 7th highest deal he’d be in the 47 range.